Late in life, John Kingsley Cook worked on a book manuscript of his wartime experiences, from the time of his enrolment in the merchant navy to his liberation from captivity in Algeria. The memoirs were to be illustrated with on-the-spot drawings contemporary to the events he experienced, as well as retrospective drawings made from memory, like this one.
Possibly representing the survivors from the Empire Guillemot's shipwreck drying by a bonfire after they were found on the Algerian shore.